A personal licence allows you to sell alcohol and authorise sales of alcohol under the authority of a premises licence. It does not authorise its holder to supply alcohol anywhere other than within a licensed premises. An individual may hold only one personal licence at any one time.
Applicants for personal licences will need to obtain an accredited qualification first. The aim of the qualification is to ensure that licence holders are aware of licensing law and the wider social responsibilities attached to the sale of alcohol.
The government provides a list of accredited organisations that provide courses and exams for a personal licence to sell alcohol.
Application forms for new licences are available from GOV.UK
To apply for a personal licence, you have to:
be aged 18 or over
possess a licensing qualification or be a person of a prescribed description
have not forfeited any personal licence in the last five years
have no unspent convictions for any relevant or foreign offence.
When submitting a personal licence application, you are required to produce:
Your disclosure certificate from https://www.gov.uk/request-copy-criminal-record giving details of any relevant conviction/foreign offence, dated within one calendar month of the application
Your accredited Level 2 award for Personal Licence Holders
Two passport size photographs one of which must be certified
Documentation demonstrating right to work in the UK.
If you wish to discuss your application or need more details, please contact the Licensing office using the Contact Details box below.
The fee for a personal licence application is £37.
Information about all Licensing Act 2003 Fee Levels can be found on GOV.UK. The Licensing Act 2003 ("The Act") provides for fees to be payable to the licensing authority in respect of the discharge of their functions. The fee levels are set centrally by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, at a level to allow licensing authorities full cost recovery for the administration, inspection and enforcement.
As a result of the Deregulation Act 2015 the Government has removed the requirement to renew Personal Licences. Personal Licences are therefore now valid indefinitely.
If your Personal Licence shows an expiry date you do not need to renew it, even when the date showing on your existing licence passes. We will not be automatically issuing new licences to remove the expiry date, however if you do wish the date to be removed from your current licence, you can return both parts (badge and paper counterpart) together with a fee of £10.50 and a letter requesting this.
Please notify the Licensing Office immediately using the Contact Details below.
If you change your name or address - You must, as soon as reasonably practicable, notify the Licensing Office of this change. Please complete the form (downloadable from the foot of this page) and return it with both parts of your personal licence and the fee of £10.50 to the Licensing Office at the address below.
